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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Happy Sunday, Y'all!We had a very relaxing weekend over here! After being super busy with the kids, teaching, and blogging, my craft area was a mess. I had a chance to organize everything and am so excited to get back to some of those forgotten projects -you know you have some of those lingering in the closet too ;-). Am I the only one who thinks organizing is super relaxing?

The kids had fun posing for a picture on these 'silly' pumpkins at our local grocery.

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with friends and setting up the fall decorations. I can't wait to share with you these super cute pallet pumpkin yard decorations that my husband and I came up with. They are so stinkin' cute!Speaking of awesome projects, we had some great Friday features!

Thanks to all of you for partying with us last week and we can't wait to see what you have in store for us this week!Now onto the party!!!

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Friday, September 27, 2013

It's been a great week here in Texas. The weather has finally started to cool off, sort of, and we can actually enjoy being outside. I'm talking no burnt bums on slides and less, 'must shower' feeling after being outside for 5 mins. So nice!! :) I've also started to get into the new 3 day a week school routine my daughter is a part of and I'm finally back into my groove, sort of. But, as much as my week has been pretty great, I always look forward to my weekends. I love the family time and with my ever active husband, we always hove something on the go, even if I find out about it 5 minutes before we're heading out the door. All I can say is our weekends are always fun!! This weekend we are heading to a friends for a pool party and spending our Sunday exploring a new river looking for the perfect waterski and wakeboard spot!

This week we also had some wonderful posts! Jill posted about the adorable little felt bear masks she made for her kiddos for Halloween, and Emily posted about her drool worthy Caramel Apple Cider Poke Cake that she invented one night before bed! If you happened to miss them, make sure to go check them out ASAP!

We are loving this sweet little dress. Any one of our girls would love to wear one of these. :)

Congratulations to all of you that were featured! Make sure to come and grab our I was featured button and display it proudly on you blog. We can't wait to see what you all have in store for us next week so make sure to come back and visit us on Sunday!! :)

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The idea for this recipe came to me one night late last week while I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep. I swear that all of my greatest inspiration comes to me right at that time! I was so excited about this recipe, that literally just popped into my head, that I actually got out of bed to write down my idea before I forgot it!

The next morning I scoured the web (and Pinterest) to see if anyone else had made a similar cake before. And... nobody has! I feel like a genius! So, off to the store I went to gather my ingredients, with a big ole' smile on my face. It's not too often that I create my own recipes, people. This is a pretty special occasion! :)

Directions:
1. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box. Pour half of batter into pan. Then swirl two Tablespoons of caramel topping over batter. Top with remaining batter. Bake cake according to directions on the box. Remove cake from oven and let cool completely (about one hour).

2. Using a fork or bamboo skewer, poke holes into the cooled cake.

3. Pour apple cider packets and pudding mix into a bowl. Add one cup hot water, stirring to dissolve. Then add 3/4 cup of cold water and stir again. Pour mixture over cake, covering completely and filling all holes. Drain excess cider mixture back into bowl. (I realize this sounds strange, but you will have excess. It was very easy to tilt my cake pan and drain the extra mixture into a bowl. The cake is very sturdy and you needn't fear that it will fall out of the pan!)

4. Refrigerate for two hours.
5. Slice cake and add cool whip topping to each piece. Top with apple slice, caramel bits and cinnamon. Serve!

This cake was delicious! It wasn't soggy at all (like some poke cakes can be). My husband and both of my toddlers loved it and asked for more. A sure sign of a winning dessert! The only thing I would change would be to add more caramel to the cake itself. I felt that the caramel flavor was lost amongst the apple cider goodness. Perhaps try adding half a cup when you make it and see if that gives it more of a caramel kick.

I'd love to know if you try out this delicious cake! Every bite tastes like a little bit of Fall! :)

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

September and October are my favorite sewing months! I get to step back from making a sweet little dress, or new pillow covers, and can get really fun and creative with Halloween costumes. I remember being so excited as a little girl, picking what I would be and waiting to try on what my mom had created! At our house, we're not always all homemade, but I try to carry on the tradition and make at least part of the kid's costumes!

Up until now, I've decided what our little family would be. Last year the kids were Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and the year before, a panda and geisha girl. I love the coordinating costumes! Now that my little girl is not so little, she has a big opinion. So when she switched from Peter Pan, to Little Red Riding Hood, to Belle, I learned to not get very excited over something and be patient for the final decision. So last week, Miss E announced that she would be Merida from Brave and little brother and sister would be the bear cubs. Brother was hooked, once she said he could be a big scary bear. We're practicing our growls over here :-)So now that the final decision had been made, I rushed out to the craft store and grabbed some fur for hooded bear vests, and felt for little bear masks. I saw these super cute masks for sale on Etsy and knew that I could make some with my own little twist.

Not only did they cost about $1 each, but they were also fast and super easy. My kind of project! I turned these out during one nap time. And I think they are adorable on my little bears!Want to make your own? Here's my pattern! You'll need 1 sheet of brown felt1 sheet of tan felt1 button1 package of brown ruffle elasticMisc. sewing suppliesFirst, cut two face patterns out of the brown felt. Cut the ear centers and mouth from the tan felt.

Next, have your little bear put the mask to his face and measure how much elastic you'll need to wrap from one side of the mask to the other. I made them so they weren't super tight, but snug enough to stay put. Mark on the face pattern where the little bear's eyes line up.

Using a spool of thread for your circular eye shape, trace a circle around each eye center mark. Cut. Match up the two face patterns, transfer the eye circles to the other, and cut.

I laid everything out to make sure that it was the look that I was going for. Place ears and mouth on face pattern and sew in place. Make sure to get close to the edges and take your time around curves!Pin the elastic below the ears on the second face pattern (the one without ears or a mouth). Sew in place.Now as if creating a sandwich, sew the two face patterns together (wrong sides), top stitching very close to the outside edges. Top stitch along the circular eye holes. Last, sew a button on for the nose. I chose to do pink for my little girl, with an extra bow just to be cute. Mr. H got a brown and black button for his not-so-scary bear.

I hope you enjoy these cute little bear masks as much as we do. Miss E & Mr. H love to wear them around the house! I'll have to add some photos when their costumes are complete! They'll also make a great addition to the dress up bin after Halloween. Now onto furry vests and a princess dress :-)**Update** I just had to share how their costumes turned out! They absolutely loved their furry vests and bear masks!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

I don't know if Fall arrived in your home town this weekend, but it graced us with it's beauty for us in small town Katy! It was glorious!!

Saturday my family drove West to Bulverde, TX for my husband's grandmother's 80th Birthday party (is that a mouthful?!) We don't get to see our extended family as often as we'd like, so we make the best of it when we do. His grandparents have 7 great-grand-children, and I'm thrilled that two of mine are part of that. It's a blessing to see their faces light up when they see the kids :) (Unfortunately my photography skills fail me, we managed to take not one.single.picture!! Who does that?!)

We have an announcement to make about our little blog: While we have been beyond thrilled to share with you our love for crafts, DIY and food, we feel as though we'd like to get a little more personal. We will be adding a Tuesday post that will be all about us, featuring one Huckleberry Love Lady a week. So be sure to come back and get to know us a little better!

If you happened to miss our Friday Features, be sure to go back and check them out!

Now, let's kick this week off with another fab party!!

The rules:

*We love our followers, and always follow back. Please follow us on GFC as well as BlogLovin:

Friday, September 20, 2013

Whew! I don't know about y'all, but this week flew by in our little house. Now that both of my boys are back in school and we have a weekly schedule, I feel that time is going by so quickly! I remember waking up Monday morning, sad that the weekend was over. And now, here it is again! Do you have any fun plans for the next few days? We're spending tomorrow with our neighbors- there's a possibility we might find ourselves alligator hunting at Brazos Bend State Park. Yikes! On Sunday, we're heading over to a friends house for swimming, food and football! It's going to be a great weekend. :)

In case you missed them, we had some really awesome posts this week! Jill shared a great round up of kid-friendly Fall crafts, while Lydia turned an old table into a gorgeous bench! Be sure to check them out. :)

If you were one of our featured posts this week, we'd love for you to grab our "I was featured" button to display proudly on your blog! You deserved it. :) We can't wait to see y'all back here on Sunday evening for another round of Much Ado About Monday!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Hello, Fall!We're already midway through September and I can almost taste the salted caramel lattes! I had my first one this morning when my Keurig spit grinds into my cup- any excuse for Starbucks works for me :-). Fall is almost here, well at least I can pretend it is almost here in Texas. That's the ONE thing that I strongly dislike about living where we do, the lack of a true Fall. I miss the crisp and beautiful autumn leaves from Ohio, sweater weather, and cool evening football games. So in the spirit of creating a Texas fall, I thought that I would round up some great crafts for the kiddos. I tried to stick with art projects that are feasible as a momma with 3 under 4, limiting the amount of work for me and leaving it up to the kiddos. We may or may not have had a self haircut while crafting together a few weeks back, so we're keeping it simple. The plan is that this will inspire us to create! Over the next couple of months, we will be making at least one fall craft a week during our morning art time :-) Let's keep those little minds busy and out of trouble!

Most of these I have come across on Pinterest, but a few came from our Much Ado About Monday link party. It's pretty awesome, be sure to join in on the fun :-)
First up is Apple Stamping by Meet the Dubiens.

I remember apple and potato stamping with my mom and can't wait to show my kids! This is definitely mantle worthy, or maybe even fun to send to the grandparents.Apple Counting by Handprint and Footprint Art

Fingerprints make up the apples in this cute activity with free printable. My little math lovers will definitely enjoy this one!

This super cute lace up football is sure to catch his attention.And some Fall Muddy Buddies by Just Dip it in Chocolate to top it off!

I don't know about you, but I am totally inspired to get the construction paper and paint out. Maybe I'll even host a fall craft playdate for our little friends. What fall crafts do you have planned for your little ones?